Ita Era

Chapter 30 Peach Blossom Village (28)

Zhao the Blind Man stared at the corpse of Master Baiyun for a long time in silence, then suddenly turned around and asked, "Who?"

Sun Qi, who had been spying, took off running, and Zhao the Blind immediately gave chase. In their chase, they encountered a wedding procession. Sun Qi plunged headfirst into the procession, leaving Zhao the Blind helpless. He hurriedly ran back to the Third Sister Temple to deal with the body of Master Baiyun.

“Wang Wu.” Sun Qi grabbed Ding Shi’s clothes and whispered in Ding Shi’s ear, “Blind Zhao killed Master Baiyun.”

"Huh?" Ding Shi asked in confusion. He had heard it clearly, but he didn't quite believe it.

Sun Qi said, "Blind Zhao killed Daoist Baiyun in order to seize the Book of No Words."

Ding Shi asked, "The wordless heavenly book? Is it those bamboo slips?"

Sun Qi: "Wang Wu, can you please pay attention to the important points? Master Baiyun is dead, we're finished."

Ding Shi: "Since ancient times, who has ever escaped death?"

Sun Qi wanted to faint.

Ding Shi pressed further: "Are bamboo slips the same as a wordless book from heaven?"

Sun Qi asked anxiously, "Yes, yes, what should I do now?"

Ding Shi said, "Go find the village chief."

Sun Qi asked expectantly, "Are you coming with me?"

Ding Shi said impatiently, "I'm busy firing the guns. This team can't function without me. You go ahead."

The wedding procession arrived at the Haitang family's house, where the doors and gates were tightly shut. There were many activities planned, with over ten young women from the Haitang family participating in a drinking contest, singing competitions, and other similar games.

After Sun Qi explained, Ding Shi began to pay attention to his surroundings. His reasons were twofold: to guard against Jiang San Niang and to search for Zhao the Blind. Upon reaching Haitang's house, Ding Shi retreated to the back of the group, lit a cigarette, and surveyed the surroundings. Then he saw a dark figure leap down the steps of the San Niang Temple and land near a villager's backyard. Ding Shi tossed away his cigarette and broke away from the group to give chase.

……

Ding Shi didn't use a flashlight; instead, he listened to the sounds and followed the mysterious man by the dim moonlight. The distance between them wasn't far. The mysterious man had already slowed down, but upon hearing the noise behind him, he glanced back and immediately quickened his pace. Ding Shi quickly followed, soon reaching a fork in the road.

The road on the right leads to the village center, while the road on the left leads into the bamboo forest mountain. The mountain is neither high nor large, and contains a large amount of bamboo. The houses of more than twenty villagers are located on the edge of the bamboo mountain, and each of them has designated a section of the bamboo forest.

There was a latrine at the crossroads, a common type of cesspool latrine in those days. It consisted of a large pit at the bottom, with wooden planks laid on top, allowing for free-fall excretion. The cesspool was a primary source of fertile fertilizer.

Ding Shi stood at the crossroads, took out a cigarette, lit it, and observed for a while. Suddenly, he saw a red shadow in the distance. Although he couldn't see it clearly, Ding Shi immediately disappeared into the bamboo forest.

The red figure drew closer, and Ding Shi clearly saw it coming from the bamboo forest—it was Jiang San Niang. Ding Shi pulled his coat up over his head; those damned mosquitoes, one bite and he'd get a welt. Ding Shi took out the respirator he'd tinkered with at Xiao Suan and her siblings' house. It sounded high-end, but it was just a flexible tube. He threw one end of the tube seven meters away and breathed from the other end, making it impossible for Jiang San Niang to find him immediately.

After getting ready, Jiang Sanniang was about 15 meters away from Ding Shi. Ding Shi held his breath; his diving record was one minute and thirty seconds. He figured Jiang Sanniang would have gone far enough in that time.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Sanniang suddenly stopped, straightened up, and turned to look at the outhouse. Ding Shi was somewhat surprised. Did Jiang Sanniang even prey on maggots? Ding Shi wasn't sure. For example, Jiang Sanniang drank chicken blood; large and medium-sized chickens were her targets. What about small chickens? What about rutin chickens? What about rutin chicks? Where was the standard?
Before Ding Shi could figure it out, San Niang darted to the outhouse like a monkey, slamming her left hand on the wooden door. With a crisp crack, a plank was smashed through. San Niang reached into the hole with both hands, prying the door, made of seven planks, apart as easily as paper. At the same time, a dark figure tumbled out from the side of the outhouse, landing two meters on the ground. Wasn't this Zhao the Blind?

Third Sister pounced on her prey like a hungry tiger.

Zhao the Blind cursed, "Beep beep, beep beep beep!" As he cursed, he hit San Niang's head with a bamboo slip, but San Niang didn't budge. Instead, she bit Zhao the Blind's neck and began to suck hard. As Zhao the Blind's life force slowly dimmed, San Niang's skin appeared somewhat rosy.

"Third Sister, can you breathe faster?" Ding Shi was about to burst. The two were seven meters apart, and as long as Ding Shi dared to breathe, Third Sister would dare to come over and greet him.

Retreat? Not a good option. Ding Shi dropped the so-called blank book as soon as he saw it. Greed may not have a knife above it, but everyone has flaws. Ding Shi's IQ dropped a notch when he saw the blank book. He could have retreated first and returned after Jiang San Niang had her midnight snack.

Ding buried his mouth and nose in the loess soil, hoping that his breath would be filtered by the soil or blown into the earth. In addition, he also had a bit of luck in mind, as he was downwind and San Niang was upwind.

Jiang Sanniang hugged Zhao Xiazi's head and kept sucking on it until a villager went to the toilet. Only then did Jiang Sanniang throw Zhao Xiazi away and pounce on the unfortunate villager.

I'm 8 meters from the wordless book and 15 meters from Jiang Sanniang. Theoretically, I can go ahead and come back later. But don't forget, there are competitors in the village.

Thinking of this, Ding Shi slowly walked towards the wordless book. As long as he didn't breathe, theoretically he wouldn't attract Jiang Sanniang.

Ding Shi walked 8 meters in 30 seconds, his eyes fixed on the zombie San Niang eating 7 meters away, his hand reaching for the wordless book on the ground. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Ding Shi's wrist, startling him so much he almost couldn't breathe. Looking down, he saw it was Zhao the Blind.

Seriously? He's still alive? That blood-drawing machine is no good.

Upon closer inspection, something was amiss; this creature's face was purplish, and it even had a pair of adorable little tiger teeth.

Knowledge is power. It was immediately clear that Blind Zhao was now a low-level purple zombie. Ding Shi promptly punched Blind Zhao in the face. The sound was loud, but it didn't stop Jiang Sanniang from continuing to eat. The zombie whimpered from the punch, as if crying, but regardless, it released its grip on Ding Shi's wrist.

Ding Shi picked up the wordless book, turning it into a card. It couldn't be placed in the skill slot, only in the item slot. The items were categorized as: Weapons, Armor, Books, and Skills. It bore the character "独" (du), signifying that the wordless book was unique in the world of Ita.

Ding Shi didn't have time to read, and since he couldn't understand it anyway, he slowly moved to a distance of 20 meters, burying his face in the mud to breathe. A system notification popped up, and Ding Shi checked it; the danger level of the casual dungeon had been increased again, now to high.

The next second, the village lost power, and a black mist obscured the dim moonlight, plunging Peach Blossom Village into boundless darkness. Moments later, screams and cries of terror came from the direction of the Third Sister Temple, with someone shouting, "Ghost! Ghost!"

According to Master Baiyun's reasoning, Gui San Niang has three rules for killing, one of which is that one cannot make eye contact with her. Ding Shi cannot understand this. Since Gui San Niang only appears to kill when someone breaks the rules, theoretically, Ding Shi should not make eye contact with her.

Ding Shi strode towards the San Niang Temple. It wasn't that he was bold; he needed information, he needed to know what rules Gui San Niang had for killing people.

(End of this chapter)